Challenge Corner discussion

In this delightful dark comedy debut, when the members of an LGBTQ+ club find themselves accidentally framed for attempted murder, it's up to them to clear their names before it's too late.

It’s kind of hard to graduate high school when you’re the prime suspect in an attempted murder.

Seventeen-year-old Eleanora Finkel just wants to finish her senior year and get the hell out of Texas. But when her club meeting inconveniently coincides with an attack on the school’s head cheerleader, she and her friends find themselves in the hot seat.

In order to clear their names and ensure the survival of their club for future queer teens, they’ll have to track down the real culprit themselves. But Eleanora is far from a professional detective; she’s riddled with anxiety, annoyingly attracted to the case’s cute victim, and her trusty crochet hook feels insufficient for fighting off a murderer. Can this ragtag group of unlikely sleuths find their way out of an entire freaking murder mystery before one of them is next?

*sigh* you know, running behind. lol
plan to start tomorrow!

To Ch 9, or 29%: Oofh. This is definitely not going to be a favorite for me. I'm sticking with it, because it's an audio-ARC and I want to see if the MC has any growth, but so far, I gotta admit, it's driving me a little nuts. (view spoiler)[So cringe. Zero nuance, every single character is a stereotype and the way the MC and her friends got pulled into this 'mystery' is ridiculous. (hide spoiler)]

Anywho, I shall persist!

To Ch 12: ...don't DNF, don't DNF, don't DNF. This antagonist, which one you may ask as (view spoiler)[the MC feels every single person on the Earth except her three friends and her mother is against her, I mean the Principal, is such a ridiculous caricature of a bad guy. My eyes are rolling so hard, I am going to need to ice them later. (hide spoiler)]

To Ch 20: I have sooooo many issues with this book, they're not even worth listing anymore. My hand would fall off before I got to the end. An example would be this recent scene (view spoiler)[when Talia and Derrick are caught hooking up, again. Now our MC already caught them together before at Talia's party, but then when Talia's brother gets involved, she snaps at Derrick like, did you ever think I just felt bad for you? Like, right, you're going to cheat on your boyfriend and hook up with another guy multiple times because you feel bad for him. Then her boyfriend Josh shows up and she is like, it only happened the once, it meant nothing, he instantly firgives ger, hugs her and is then like, the person I have the real problem with is Derrick!!! It's like bro, she's been stepping out on you, now she's lying about it and we're still acting like Talia is a poor misunderstood girl. It's just so cringe and ridiculous. (hide spoiler)]

hahah!!! Oh no! We haven't had a rough one in a hot minute!

I'm getting ready to start! I'm looking forward to your spoilers though! 🤣😂🤣😂

To Ch 24: It's a miracle! The MC (view spoiler)[actually had a self-realization moment that the whole freaking world doesn't revolve solely around her!!!! Let's see how long this sticks... (hide spoiler)]

Trisha wrote: "hahah!!! Oh no! We haven't had a rough one in a hot minute!

I'm getting ready to start! I'm looking forward to your spoilers though! 🤣😂🤣😂"

I hope you end up enjoying it, Trisha. It was such a rough one for me. I love YA Thriller/Mystery/Horror, but this just was not it for me! I just finished! Thank God -- Starting The Man Made of Smoke next, soooo excited. I freaking need it this month!

DONEEEEEEEEEE!!

I'm so excited. Okay, this for me, was not it.
I found the MC, whose name I don't actually know, maybe Eleanor, was just soooo grating for me. She drove me nuts.

(view spoiler)[She did have a bit of self-reflection at the end where she realized she wasn't the greatest person, even though she was judging every single other person around her, and I'm glad that she agreed to go to counseling to work on herself. With this being said, I feel like this author did this story a disservice by only having the one perspective. I really enjoyed Noah and Tyler, as well as Kennealy (sorry, didn't see her name, so I may have botched that terribly). I wish I would have had the opportunity to get to know all of them more, but Eleanor, or Eleanora was so self-focused, I really feel like I didn't know anything about anyone else. I hated the way every SINGLE PERSON in a position of authority was portrayed in this book. Even the people that were being kind, Eleanor judged and said critical things about. I just found her perspective and outlook on the world infuriating. There was zero nuance allowed and every single character was a stereotype of what that 'type' of person should be.

Also, this mystery was almost nonexistent. The fact that Eleanor is screaming from the rooftops that she needs to protect her friends from a homophobic murderer, yet noone was murdered and the girl that was attacked was, as far as anyone knew, straight as an arrow, was just so bizarre to me.

The Scooby-Doo ending with the big reveal was ridiculous and I'm just so glad it's over. I hope that any Librarians looking to purchase a YA Mystery-Thriller with strong Queer representation look elsewhere, because they can do a lot better than this. This was snatching the lowest hanging fruit, IMO (hide spoiler)]

Rant over.

to chapter 9 / 29%

it IS a fast read at least but I agree

(view spoiler)[ completely silly crime
and Derek being violent (them thinking he'd hit Eleanor?! like what?!)

buy the alcohol was just so over the top ridiculous. How do you not think of ANYTHING to talk to the principal about? you instead try to act like a little kid? that doesn't know him?

and these kids don't act like high schoolers. maybe this is for younger kids? These kids swear but otherwise don't use apps or their phones the way kids do

oh and lol that's not how clubs work. There are teachers assigned to every club (at least that was true for both my kids) and the teacher had to sit in on every club to ensure there wasn't bullying for anything else since they were alone in classrooms afterschool

and I kinda hate that she's getting so cozy with her bully 😭😭 (hide spoiler)]

Trisha wrote: "to chapter 9 / 29%

it IS a fast read at least but I agree..."

OMG, hahaha, you just wait. There wasn't one chapter that I wasn't just debunking the things they were assuming, or the way the school, or police department, was functioning.

And also, only read this when you're done, but (view spoiler)[when the Principal is investigating them in the beginning, one of the kids, maybe Noah, makes a Mario and Luigi comment, and the Principal is like, well I will look into that. And all the kids get the joke, because obviously, but the Principal is just so clueless he can't figure out the Mario Bros reference, so I think to myself, how old is this guy, like 98-years old. Then you get to the end and you find out he was in high school in 1985!!! This was the heyday of Mario Bros. when it was first developed and it took the country by storm. There is no freaking way in hell he wouldn't have gotten that reference. I think the author needs to do her research a little more and quit writing every single adult as a crap human being incapable of understanding a those younger than them. Good grief. (hide spoiler)]

17 chapters / 51%

it really is a fast read but yeah, I can see why you were chanting to not DNF.

was the narrator good?

(view spoiler)[ Yeah, the parents not jumping in to save them from academic probation is just silly
and yeah, all these kids are just caricatures and are so unrealistic.

it's so over the top and not at all like how just about anything works!! lol

the principal's kink with feet and how the kids were setting him up. Yikes

I don't have any guesses on who attacked Kenley and I'm not working to hard to think about it

still surprised the Noah's sister and Kenley's best friend is cheating with kenley's boyfriend. yikes. (hide spoiler)]

Trisha wrote: "17 chapters / 51%

it really is a fast read but yeah, I can see why you were chanting to not DNF..."

The narrator was really good. She was definitely believable as a teen and put a lot of emotion into her narration. If it wasn't for her...yeah...I might not have made it through.

this is a struggle

25 chapters / 76%
(view spoiler)[ oh now we have a smoke bomb? and we're blackmailing janitors. . . .I just. . . (hide spoiler)]

I agree, I really love YA Thriller (especially murder mysteries) but I'm not enjoying this one. I just wish it felt more realistic (and the characters felt more realistic)

Trisha wrote: "this is a struggle

25 chapters / 76%..."

Right!? oh my goodness, I can't even tell you how happy I am that you are seeing the things I was seeing. (view spoiler)[The MC just thinks the absolute worst about every single human on the planet, minus her three friends and her Mom, yet they're lying, stealing, breaking the law, disrespecting authority, treating every adult in their life like a piece of dirt...it was a real head-scratcher. (hide spoiler)]

megs_bookrack wrote: "DONEEEEEEEEEE!!..

This was snatching the lowest hanging fruit, IMO"

OMG YES! I'm done too
and this felt like a caricature of every person. like you said, stereotypes of "who" someone was supposed to be but never felt like actual people

(view spoiler)[ she really was just awful to adults!! She would be shocked when someone wouldn't tell her something but then she was lying and stealing and hiding stuff all over the place.
and yes, the adults. The principal was just silly - over the top ridiculous.

Teachers and adults can be much more nuanced in their homophobia! and I felt like the kids swore a lot and there was some of the sex stuff - but otherwise these kids felt very young! (hide spoiler)]

bummer. this could have been so good, too. . .but it was definitely a miss for me as well